Robert M. THOMAS
Robert M. Thomas was hired at NYPL 08/26/1957.
He passed away 03/22/2016
Deborah Trepp:
I met Bob Thomas at the very beginning of my professional career when I interviewed with him and Katherine Lord O’Brien in 1970 for an entry level position at the soon-to-be-opened Mid-Manhattan Library and I thought he was the most dapper, kindest man I had ever met. In the three or four months that we spent working to process all the Mid-Manhattan materials in an un-air conditioned building, he always showed a sharp sense of humor, a necessary sense of the ridiculous, and an inclusive kindness that bound the staff together. If Miss O’Brien was, by nature and need, General Washington, he was her Lafayette – an incredibly smart man, a true professional, and a gentleman of enormous charm and wit. I remember that my father showed up one day to see the Library shortly before we opened, and Mr. Thomas spent an hour showing him around as if he was a major donor or City official; it was an act of kindness that my dad recalled fondly until the day he died. A truly lovely man, he deserves to be remembered and to be missed.
See New York Public Library Retirees Newsletter, Issue 11, page 8.
Robert M. Thomas was hired at NYPL 08/26/1957.
He passed away 03/22/2016
Deborah Trepp:
I met Bob Thomas at the very beginning of my professional career when I interviewed with him and Katherine Lord O’Brien in 1970 for an entry level position at the soon-to-be-opened Mid-Manhattan Library and I thought he was the most dapper, kindest man I had ever met. In the three or four months that we spent working to process all the Mid-Manhattan materials in an un-air conditioned building, he always showed a sharp sense of humor, a necessary sense of the ridiculous, and an inclusive kindness that bound the staff together. If Miss O’Brien was, by nature and need, General Washington, he was her Lafayette – an incredibly smart man, a true professional, and a gentleman of enormous charm and wit. I remember that my father showed up one day to see the Library shortly before we opened, and Mr. Thomas spent an hour showing him around as if he was a major donor or City official; it was an act of kindness that my dad recalled fondly until the day he died. A truly lovely man, he deserves to be remembered and to be missed.
See New York Public Library Retirees Newsletter, Issue 11, page 8.